VX44906 Lieutenant Colonel A G Cameron DSO and Bar (left), waits to place his wreath during a ...

VX44906 Lieutenant Colonel A G Cameron DSO and Bar (left), waits to place his wreath during a memorial ceremony at Rabaul. He had been second in charge of A Company, 2/22 Battalion, when the Japanese landed in the immediate area. Cameron spent some time on the island before escaping to Salamua with a small party. Two memorial services, one at Vulcan Beach, the other at Rabaul, were held to mark the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the Japanese transport Montevideo Maru in which Second AIF prisoners and civilians died. The cairn marks the spot of the first Japanese landings. On 22 June 1942 an estimated 845 prisoners of war (POWs) and 209 civilians captured by Japanese forces embarked from Rabaul, New Britain, aboard the Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of the No. 1 Independent Company, 2/22 Battalion, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines.